That Just Went From Bad to Worse: Major Media Outlets Have Been Banned From White House Press Briefings

Just as we were discussing Donald Trump’s many attacks on the press earlier today, yet another one was happening. A number of major news outlets, including CNN, the New York Times, Politico, BuzzFeed, The Hill, and the Los Angeles Times were all barred from Friday’s press briefing.

Instead of the regular televised briefing, Sean Spicer held a closed-door, off-camera “gaggle” with a much smaller group of hand-selected outlets. Those included–no surprises here–Breitbart, The Washington Times, and other outlets that probably aren’t going to ring any bells. The Wall Street Journal has released a statement saying if they’d been aware of the exclusions, they wouldn’t have participated.

CNN has since responded to the White House’s decision to ban outlets at its discretion. The brief but intense response (which you can watch above) doesn’t hold back. Jake Tapper calls for Trump and his administration to put on their big kid clothes and remember how a democratic society functions, saying,

It’s not acceptable. In fact, it’s petulant and indicative of a lack of basic understanding of how an adult White House functions.

Tapper also makes it clear that their will be no beating around the bush in regard to how fundamentally undemocratic this action is.

This White House does not seem to respect the idea of accountability. This White House does not seem to value an independent press. There is a word for that line of thinking. The word is un-American.

The State Department has announced that full press briefings will resume in early March. Will all the currently banned outlets return to Spicer’s press room?

For his part, Trump still somehow maintains that “nobody loves the First Amendment better than [him].”

Well, maybe it’s true what they say: You always hurt the ones you love.

(image via Shutterstock)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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